This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase—at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting my caffeinated, laptop-fuelled adventures! Enjoy my Bluehost review.

Hey there! Here’s my honest Bluehost review

So there I was, in a cosy hostel in Thailand, sipping a ridiculously sweet iced coffee and promising myself I’d finally launch my dream travel blog. I’d tried sketching ideas on napkins, scribbling in notebooks, even messing around on pages with names I can’t pronounce. But nothing stuck. It felt like I was trying to build a sandcastle with chopsticks.

Fast forward, I landed back in Australia, bleary-eyed, with a suitcase full of mosquito bites—and a decision to make. I’d heard whispers about web hosts that can either make or break your site. After a bit of Googling (and more than a few horror stories about sites going down mid-traffic surge), I chose Bluehost. Why? Because my blog needs to be up and running whether I’m hiking in Tasmania or snorkelling off the Great Barrier Reef. Plus, there’s something reassuring about a company recommended by WordPress itself.

Why Host Your Travel Blog on Bluehost?

Let’s be real—when you start a blog, you have a billion things to worry about: what if I spell “adventure” wrong? Will anyone read my waffle about that one time I got hopelessly lost in Venice? Do I really need a photo of every gelato flavour known to humankind? Amid all this existential dread, Bluehost swoops in and says, “Chill, mate. We’ve got this.”

• Officially recommended by WordPress: No shady hosting farms here. Bluehost meets the gold-standard checklist—speed, reliability, security.
• One-click WordPress installation: Yes, it’s as simple as clicking a button, pouring yourself a cuppa, and watching WordPress install itself.
• Free domain for the first year: Because nothing says “I’m serious about this blog” like having your very own .com.

Grab your free domain and hosting here: Start with Bluehost.

Easy to Use, Even If You’re a Technophobe

I’m not going to pretend I spent my teenage years coding websites in my bedroom. Spoiler: I was severely technologically uneducated in those days. The Bluehost dashboard is as user-friendly as it gets. Want to install a plugin for pretty galleries? Easy. Need to set up email forwarding? A few clicks. Feeling adventurous? There’s a staging site option so you can play around without breaking your live blog.

When I fumbled with my very first theme and managed to temporarily hide my entire homepage (don’t ask), Bluehost’s intuitive control panel rescued me. No panic Googling “how to unhide a WordPress page” at 2am. Just a calm few clicks, and voilà—I was back in business.

Performance and Speed: Because No One Has Time for Slow Loading Sites

Imagine you’re in Bali, halfway up a volcano to watch the sunrise. Your phone’s battery is dead. The coffee vendor’s closing up. Suddenly, you remember you need to publish that blog post about “5 Hidden Waterfalls in Lombok.” If your host is sluggish, it’s like trying to send a smoke signal in a hurricane.

Bluehost’s servers are fast enough to keep your readers from bouncing away in irritation. And for those traffic spikes—say you get picked up by a big travel site—Bluehost’s shared hosting can cope. No going offline at the worst possible moment.

If you’re the data kind of person, Bluehost boasts:

• 99.9% uptime guarantee
• Solid-state drives (SSDs) for faster data retrieval
• Built-in caching to shave off extra seconds

Customer Support That Saved My Sanity

A few months in, I accidentally deleted my blog’s entire media library—yes, every sun-kissed sunset and every coffee-chained moment gone. Cue absolute meltdown. But Bluehost’s 24/7 chat support walked me through a backup restoration. In the time it took me to brew another coffee, my images were back.

Plus, they have heaps of tutorials and guides. Whether you need to redirect domains or protect your site from spam comments, someone’s already written a step-by-step guide. Honestly, it’s like having a patient tech-savvy friend who refuses to judge you for using Comic Sans in 2024.

Pricing and Plans: Bang for Your Buck

Hosting can be deceptively cheap or shockingly expensive. Bluehost strikes a nice balance. Their shared hosting plans start from around A$4.50 per month on introductory offers, which covers:

• Unlimited bandwidth—so you can post as many trip-shaming photos as you like.
• Free SSL certificate—ensuring your readers feel safe submitting comments.
• 50GB website space—enough for thousands of blog images.

When renewal kicks in, prices go up (welcome to the hosting world). But even then, you’re looking at under A$12 per month. Compare that to your daily flat white habit, and your blog is cheaper.

Check current Bluehost deals: See Bluehost Pricing.

Setting Up Bluehost: A Quick Overview

I promised a quick rundown, so here it is:

1. Sign up for a plan — Click this link: Grab your plan.
2. Choose your free domain — Something catchy like “MikkisWanderlust.com” or “ThatGirlWhoWentToNepal”.
3. Install WordPress — One click, done.
4. Pick a theme — There are hundreds. Opt for one that’s mobile-responsive (because people browse on phones these days more than ever).
5. Customise — Add plugins like Yoast for SEO, Jetpack for security, and maybe a travel map plugin to show off all your destinations.
6. Write your first post — Hit publish and celebrate with a celebratory Tim Tam (or choc chip cookie, no judgment here).

My Honest Take: Any Downsides?

Nothing’s perfect. Bluehost occasionally has those “maintenance” notices at odd hours. And if you’re a digital hoarder (hello, 10GB-worth-of-wallpaper addict), you might run into storage limits on lower-tier plans. But for most travel bloggers, it’s a non-issue.

Plus, Bluehost is always adding new features. I recently got excited about their spam protection upgrades—because nothing ruins a perfectly curated travel blog like a flood of “Click here to increase your bank balance” comments.

Should You Go with Bluehost? My Final Thoughts

If you’re serious about turning your travel stories into a proper blog, Bluehost is the no-nonsense choice. It’s reliable, affordable, and designed for folks who’d rather plan their next trip than wrestle with DNS settings.

Having my site up and running without drama meant I could focus on what really matters: sharing stories from a sun-drenched kaytrip in Croatia, a chilli-induced haze in Bangkok, or a mountain sunrise in New Zealand. No tech headaches, just pure travel joy.

Before You Buzz Off

Whether you’re planning your first blog post or are ready to ditch that free subdomain you’ve been using since 2015, give Bluehost a whirl. Here’s that affiliate link one last time: Start building with Bluehost.

And hey, once your blog is live, don’t forget to book your next stay via Hostelworld or snag some travel insurance from World Nomads. Because while Bluehost handles your blog, you’ll need someone to handle the dodgy taxi drivers and sunburned shoulders.

Conclusion: Let the Blogging Adventure Begin

Choosing a web host might not sound as thrilling as ziplining through Costa Rica, but it’s the foundation of your online presence. Bluehost gave me the confidence to focus on writing and photographing, rather than pulling out my hair over downtime or confusing tech jargon.

If you’re ready to share your travel tales, reviews, and ultimate gelato rankings with the world, give Bluehost a go. Then pour yourself a well-earned glass of something sparkly, crank up your laptop, and let the adventures—and blog posts—flow.

Safe travels and happy blogging!
—Mikki